


No Lone Skating

by EllenMarieP



Series: Thomas Barrow Christmas Prompts [26]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28512444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllenMarieP/pseuds/EllenMarieP
Summary: Part 26 of the Christmas prompt challenge.Ice – character A saw character B slip on the ice – how do they react?Daisy takes a tumble. Thomas is there to save her.
Series: Thomas Barrow Christmas Prompts [26]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030419
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18
Collections: A Very Thomas Barrow Christmas 2020





	No Lone Skating

**No Lone Skating**

Another icy day at Downton is just another reason to go out skating but this time Thomas was allowed to get in on the fun as Mrs Hughes had offered to observe from the bench, just in case.

Mr and Mrs Moseley were skating together again, slow and steady and the hall boys were having another competition, racing in reverse this time. Daisy, however, was skating alone with her thoughts this time as Andy was needed to serve tea. Well, anyone was needed to serve tea, but Andy had volunteered, and Thomas hadn’t complained, after all the pre-Christmas stress he deserved some post-Christmas fun.

There Thomas was, skating gracefully around the pond at an easy pace with his hands clasped behind his back and simply enjoying the feeling. It was almost like sailing without a boat, he found it calming now that he wasn’t troubled by memories of the past.

Suddenly he caught a commotion out of the corner of his eye as the hall boys whizzed past Daisy and knocked her off her balance. Thomas whizzed over but couldn’t get there before she slipped and fell on the ice and he couldn’t help the sympathetic wince as she landed. He swiftly arrived at her side and bent down carefully.

“Daisy! Are you alright?”

The assistant cook looked up with tears shining in her eyes.

“I…I’m alright I think. A little shocked maybe.”

“and rather bruised I should think?”

She swallowed and nodded, too busy fighting her tears to answer verbally. Thomas smiled and held out his hand to her.

“Come on. Let’s get you inside and warm you up.”

It took a couple of moments but soon they were both upright and skating back to the pond edge with Daisy’s arm linked in Thomas’ as he escorted her back to safety.

Two hours later and Daisy was feeling much better, Mr Barrow had wrapped her up as snug as a bug in his chair by the fire in the servants’ hall and he was currently handing her another freshly made hot chocolate. Her hip would probably be sore for a few days, but it was worth it to feel so pampered and by the still occasionally prickly butler no less.

“Thank you ever so for looking after me Mr Barrow.”

“Nonsense. What kind of man would I be if I just left you on the ice? Andy might actually have gotten angry with me. Speaking of Andy, I’m about to go and relieve him so he can be the one waiting on you hand and food. He can think of it as practice for when you finally get married.”

“Still, you’ve been ever so kind.”

Thomas, while far more used to kindness and love than he was, could still only take so much and so he simply offered Daisy a smile and headed upstairs to free Andy from playing the human statue. In future, he was going to insist on no lone skating as a rule. Being kind, as rewarding as it is, is exhausting.


End file.
